Swedish carrier BRA leaps on another route

BRA is adding to an increasingly comprehensive domestic network as other carriers drop routes.

The Swedish regional carrier BRA is expanding its network further by picking up routes that struggling and bankrupt airlines have dropped.

Having quickly taken routes after NextJet went bankrupt, BRA now says it will begin to fly year-round between Kristianstad and Stockholm Bromma from August 27 – a well-used business route flown until June 24 by the tiny carrier Sparrow Aviation.

Sparrow Aviation opted to stop air traffic between Kristianstad Österlen Airport and Stockholm Arlanda this week, saying it was no longer “commercially possible due to a lack of passenger development”.

Sparrow has been flying the domestic route with up to 28 weekly departures. A so-called virtual airline without planes or crews, it operated the route with a Fokker 50 leased from the Swedish company Amapola Flyg.

It is not the first of Sparrow Aviation’s routes to shut down. A route between Gothenburg City Airport and Stockholm Bromma stopped when City Airport was closed in 2015.

A route between Halmstad and Arlanda and a route from Halmstad to Kalmar and on to Berlin also both had short lifespans and closed in 2016. What happens to Sparrow Aviation now is unclear.

Through the grapevine
“We had some suspicions that Sparrow was considering closing down the line between Kristianstad and Arlanda,” said Christian Clemens, managing director of BRA.

“So we have now counted and appreciated the possibilities of joining Kristianstad with Stockholm and on to our other destinations in Sweden as well as Helsinki via Bromma.”

He added: “The support and interest we see from the local business community, politicians and Kristianstad Österlen Airport means that we are convinced to increase the number of travellers between Kristianstad and the rest of the country via Bromma from today’s levels.”

The chief executive of Kristianstad Österlen Airport, Jonas Haak, echoed these sentiments, saying: “It feels absolutely fantastic to get the opportunity to welcome BRA to us, and above all it is extremely positive that residents in eastern Skåne have such great opportunities to fly to Stockholm and further with such a strong partner.”